"I was only interested if we could find a real world or scientific application for the technology," he said.

"As it turned out I found a couple of promising research applications for the laser and it gave me an opportunity to test the clamp that we have developed for temporarily attaching instruments or electronic devices to sharks."

The Wicked Lasers' Facebook call to action that made this double threat a reality reads: We've supported underwater life in the past with our laser donations to Sea Shepherd. But now we need to give them an opportunity to defend themselves... with lasers!

We need your support to attach a fully-functional Spyder 3 laser onto a live shark in the wild. If there are 2,000 Likes in a month from now on this post, you WILL see us strapping a Spyder 3 laser onto a shark. We have a professional shark diving team ready and waiting.

If this sounds like a lot of hype, or the plot of a new water-based horror film, we can confirm it's true.

The Wicked Lasers humour-filled spokesperson Steve told The Huffington Post via email: "The experiment was conducted by Marine Biologist Luke Tipple and filmed by What We Do Media's dive team. Credit must also go to Wicked Lasers for finally giving us a reason to carry out the "Dr Evil experiments" we've been talking about doing for years!"

Tipple was keen to play down the menace of the shark in question: "A lemon shark has never killed anyone and is quite a gentle shark," he said.

The laser is far from deadly though. It is a low energy version, nothing like the flesh-dicing machine wielded by Darth Vader. So yes, it's safe to get back into the water.